Mining was being done illegally and beyond the permissible limits at several points at the Dadam zone in Haryana’s Bhiwani , a probe carried out by an eight-member committee has found with its chairman saying that “there were many, many lapses on part of the mining lease holder” even as the owner of the firm awarded the mining contract refuted the allegations terming them as a “political conspiracy”.
The committee has submitted its report to the National Green Tribunal.
The NGT, as part of an ongoing litigation, had constituted the committee led by Justice (retd) Pritam Pal, of Punjab and Haryana High Court, to verify the facts with regard to illegal and unscientific mining in forest and mining area allegedly by M/s Govardhan Mines and Minerals.
The NGT had earlier slapped a fine of Rs 7.5 crore on the firm. The case is still pending.
“As per the report of the mining department, mining upto depth of 300 feet was observed in mining area along boundary pillar No. 13 to 19 for which the department had issued show cause notice to M/s Govardhan Mines and Minerals on August 5, 2020. Further, now based on the study conducted by HARSAC, Hisar, mining upto depth of 110 m with overburden and 93 m without overburden has been observed (November 2021 to February 2022) at surveyed points,” the probe report — a copy with The Indian Express — read.
It adds, “The data indicates that the net mineable depth, after removal of overburden of 17 m from average dept value, has been mentioned as 80 m, whereas, the derived elevation data during year 2021-22 mentioning the net mineable depth, after removal of overburden of 17 m, has been mentioned as 93 m, whereas, as per the report submitted by Department of Mining, the depth of mining pit has been mentioned as 109 m. Therefore, it is concluded that illegal mining has been done by the mining lease holder i.e. M/s Govardhan Mines and Minerals, which is 02 m (80 m – 78 m) as an average value and 15 m (93 m – 78 m) at one point. It is further mentioned here that going beyond the permissible depth of 78 m even at one point, is unscientific and illegal mining, even if, the average depth of mining done is on the lower side. Further, as per the EIA report submitted by M/s Govardhan Mines and Minerals, ultimate pit limit has been drawn up to 150 mRL (metres relative level) and the maximum depth of the mining pit has been mentioned as 78 m”.
“The above facts indicate that mining, excluding the overburden, has been done by M/s Govardhan Mines and Minerals at an average depth of 80 m and depth of 93 m at one point against the permissible depth of 78 m. As such, the illegal mining even at single point upto depth of 93 m (without overburden) against the permissible depth of 78 m has been done by M/s Govardhan Mines and Minerals,” tre report concludes.
Talking to The Indian Express, Justice Pal said, “I have submitted my report to the NGT. It is up to the NGT now to take action on it. All I can say is that there were many, many lapses found on part of the mining lease holder at the mining site. All the facts and findings are mentioned in the report”.
Ved Pal Tanwar, owner of Govardhan Mines and Minerals, however, refuted the probe report’s findings. “There is no illegal mining happening. Why would we do illegal mining when we still have seven more years to do mining at the site? The report nowhere mentions about the period when so-called illegal mining was done. No illegal mining was done during our period. There was some ‘unscientific mining’, but that was done before the site was allotted to us. It is all a political conspiracy. We have all the proofs and documents to prove that we have not done any illegal mining at the site”.
Tanwar adds, “Due to the repeated halt in mining operations, thousands of people are losing their jobs. The government is losing crores of rupees as revenue. If the mining is stopped like this time and again, from where will the government get its revenue?”
According to the information, at least seven deaths have taken place in the last five months at Dadam mining zone. The first such incident was reported on January 1 this year, when five people died in a mishap while two more died on April 23 and 24.
While Opposition has been demanding a CBI probe, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has refused the same stating that the state government would conduct a thorough investigation into all such incidents of alleged illegal mining.
Talking to The Indian Express, Congress MLA from Tosham, Kiran Choudhry said, “Be it Tosham, Dadam, Khanak, Nangal Chaudhary, illegal mining is going on at several places. The forest areas are being completely destroyed. Due to the overloaded trucks and tippers, roads have completely been spoiled. When the deaths took place at Dadam and Nangal Chaudhary, the government did register FIRs but only arrested the low level employees of the mining contractors. The big fish who are actually part of the mining mafia continue to remain out of bounds. I raised this issue several times in the Vidhan Sabha, but no action has been taken. .
She added, “The mining contractor has to pay a sum to the local panchayat. In Dadam, the mining contractor is yet to pay approximately Rs 12-13 crore to the panchayat. BJP MLA Abhe Singh Yadav raised the issue of illegal mining in Nangal Chaudhary, the constituency that he represents, in the recent session of Vidhan Sabha. Although the government gives assurances that action will be taken against the illegal mining contractors, but nothing happens on ground”.
Overall conclusions drawn by the Joint Committee, mentioned in the report
Illegal mining in forest area (non minable area) in 300 m2 (meter-square) area in Dadam mines hills, village Dadam.
Conclusion: The perusal of the documents/information/data available with the Department of Forest and Department of Mines & Geology indicates that M/s Govardhan Mines and Minerals has done illegal mining in forest area (nonmineable area) in 300 m2 area between approach line (Pathways) AB and BC.
Illegal abstraction of groundwater in Dadam Mining area
Conclusion: The water accumulated in mining pit having depth of 109 m is seepage from the cracks and fissures of the quartzite rock of Aravali system and no ground water abstraction in mining area has been made.
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Unscientific mining in mining area by the project proponent
Conclusion – M/s Govardhan Mines & Minerals is carrying out unscientific mining in Dadam mining area and mining is not done as per mining plan.
Illegal mining in forest area (non mineable area) in 0.8 hectare area in Dadam mining hills in village Dadam, Tehsil Tosham.
Conclusion – Based on the satellite imageries and its analysis done by HARSAC Hisar, the Joint Committee concludes as under: i) M/s Sunder Marketing Associates has done illegal mining in forest area (nonmineable area) in 1.241 hectares of area. ii) M/s Govardhan Mines & Minerals has done illegal mining in forest area (nonmineable area) in 0.097 hectares of area. iii) Illegal mining in an area of 0.195 hectares in forest area (non-mineable area) has been done in the non lease period by unknown persons. As per satellite imagery report of HARSAC, illegal mining in forest area (nonmineable area) has been done in total area of 1.533 hectares instead of 0.8 hectares, as mentioned in the complaint.